


A Slightly Different Fool

by chaoticrandomness



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 01:34:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5689495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaoticrandomness/pseuds/chaoticrandomness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Naoto Shirogane drives to Inaba a bit earlier, in search of mystery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Slightly Different Fool

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).



I’m driving a car to Inaba because I want to see my grandfather again. Or at least that’s the ostensible reason why I’m heading out to the middle of nowhere for a year. 

 

_ In 1947, at least seventeen people reported that their radios and televisions were displaying images of their dead loved ones, and a few even said that hands had reached out from their television to convince them to join them in a world with no liars.  _

 

_ It was written-off as an act of post-war mass psychogenic illness, but something about it….  _

 

Detectives are supposed to be rational young men, yet I’m here driving to Inaba to chase a crazy whim when I’m under the legal driving age, and listening to the radio talk about how all trains to Inaba are delayed due to railway construction. I have a license and there’s a  _ Welcome To Inaba  _ sign on my right, so I haven’t screwed up too much…. 

 

_ I probably should get gas, I guess, since the car’s going to run out in the middle of Main Street and I really don’t want to block traffic.  _

 

There’s a one-man gas station on my right, and I pull into the lot and wait for the attendant to come over as I open my window to pay them. 

 

_ I brought enough money to live here for a year…. and even if I miscounted, I won’t need to spend most of it as my equipment’s in the car.  _

 

“It’s very rare that we get visitors here. I hope you enjoy your stay.” the attendant says as they shake my hand and take the money. 

 

“I hope I do as well.” I say, and I hope that I sound both old enough to be driving a car and convincing enough to be taken seriously. It’s also really warm inside my car, for some reason… 

 

_ When you stare at things for long periods of time, you end up in a fever-like state, and you’ve been staring at the GPS the whole time. You’ve only noticed it when you’ve turned away from the screen, so you’re fine.  _

 

The attendant leaves for the safety of their building, and I close the window and drive down Main Street, where I’m greeted by a woman’s corpse that someone hung from a telephone pole. 

 

_ I came to this town to pursue the Midnight Channel Delusion, but ran into a murderer instead….  _

 

Quickly, I park the car against the curb and unlock the trunk, pulling out a camera and forensic supplies and hoping that I didn’t end up disrupting the crime scene or destroying crucial evidence because of my impulsive investigation. 

 

* * *

 

_ The corpse is a female between the ages of twenty and thirty-five. She was killed by what appears to be multiple abrasions and lacerations, and not by the hanging, which her killer did post-mortem, most likely…. but the question is, how did she get there without anyone seeing her?  _

 

There are multiple sets of DNA and fingerprints on her, but I can’t identify off the top of my head who the person was that left behind these on her without access to a database. She most likely died a few hours ago, but how could her killer have both left evidence identifying themselves on her  _ and  _ hung her from a telephone pole on Main Street without anyone noticing?! 

 

_ Maybe this killer wants to be found? But why kill someone with a weapon that resembles bite and claw markings, of all things?!  _

 

_ Can you buy wire in Inaba, or would that have to be done over the internet? Can I get internet search results of everyone in this town? Can I access the fingerprint database with the multiple prints I found on her that’re currently preserved, and they’re not hers, for her hands have loops and these prints are arches.  _

 

_ Even if I found out who it was, would the police take me seriously? Could I be arrested for infringing on investigating a crime scene? Why am I walking towards the television in my grandfather’s living room, and sticking my hand in it?  _

 

The fact that my hand goes through the screen should surprise me, but this was a common element in several instances of the Midnight Channel Delusion, which comes along with falling into the television and being surrounded by fog. 

 

_ It’s… real, or I’m dreaming. But I have my camera with me and I can read that it says ‘Property of Naoto Shirogane’ on the back, so…. the delusion is real and there’s actually a fog-world behind the televisions of Inaba.  _

 

I quickly take a picture of the area surrounding me, and begin to wander around the world inside of the television, for not everyone who fell in their TVs in 1947 got out of them alive, but those who did were the ones who didn’t remain still inside them. 

 

_ There aren’t any multi-armed black creatures in here, nor are there rooms with your greatest fears. Just hallways and fog and…. blood.  _

 

There’s blood staining the floor of a room that looks like a cross between a hotel and a police office, and it wouldn’t have survived from then, so it has to be recent…. 

 

_ Did this woman…. die from exposure to the creatures in this world? Did someone push her into a TV after they found out about the Midnight Channel Delusion, because they wanted a convenient way to kill someone?  _

 

The people who eventually got out of the television to their homes and families escaped through TV sets. There’s one in the corner of the room, and I fling myself through it, for I need to get the blood-type analysis kit and check on whose blood this is. 

 

I fall into my room, grab every single kit that could be remotely pertinent to this room, and throw myself back into the television to complete this investigation. 

 

* * *

 

_ All of the blood found in the room was type O, so it’s most likely to be her blood in there…. there were multiple sets of DNA in the room, both of which match up with the ones from her and her killer on her body, so that’s good….  _

 

_ The news said that her name was Mayumi Yamano, and that she was someone’s mistress, so blame could be thrown on whomever that guy’s wife was, but I don’t think she was even in town when this happened and I still have to run the fingerprints and DNA through the database soon….  _

 

I’m standing in the middle of my classroom, and I haven’t slept at all. I don’t know if the disguise works out, and the only open seat is next to a really tall and muscular guy who’s staring out the window and knitting something underneath his desk. 

 

_ Well, he seems strong. And interesting. I’ll just….. admit it to him later, I guess?  _

 

“Anyways, Tatsumi, how many forms can the equation for a line be written in?” my teacher asks, shocking the guy next to me out of his knitting. 

 

“Three.” I blurt out, for I did all of this a few years ago and I don’t know why no one got a copy of my educational transcripts, but I also started being homeschooled a while ago and all of the transcripts say that I’m female. 

 

“...well, at least the guy next to you’s paying attention. Let’s hope he keeps you focused.” the teacher quips, before asking someone else about more things I already know how to do. 

 

_ This does give me more time to figure out who did it, but it also feels kind of wrong to be not paying attention when they’re at least trying to teach us…. _

 

“...thanks.” Tatsumi mutters, as he turns back towards the window, and his face is red. 

 

_ You’re welcome. I’ll…. get to know you better, once I finish solving a murder, okay?  _

 

* * *

 

There’s a doll sitting on my windowsill when I come home from class. It’s a smaller version of me, and it’s holding a note in its left hand. 

 

_...hey, do you want to…. um, I’m bad at this…. come over?  _

 

_ I guess I will, Tatsumi. The doll’s adorable, by the way.  _

 

I grab my bag and begin to walk towards Main Street, for someone said that there’s a Tatsumi Textile Store off of one of the side roads, and that’s probably where he is. 

 

_ It never said which side road it was off of, but I guess I’ll- _

 

A telephone pole is in front of me, and there’s another woman hanging from it. No one else is anywhere near me. 

 

_ ….I need to investigate this. I need to run analysis on this person’s DNA and fingerprints and blood and anything else, for there’s a serial killer in this town that kills women at random by shoving them into televisions.  _

 

There’s a student ID on the ground, which says that the girl’s name is Saki Konishi and she’s two years older than me. It seems to have fallen out of her pocket when she was hung, and there’s blood staining the edges. There are more arch fingerprints on her body, and I’ll analyze the DNA when I’m not standing in the middle of the road, but I’d bet my life that she and Mayumi Yamano were killed by the same person. 

 

_ I need to go home. I’ve photographed everything, and I need to figure out who this guy is… but even if I found out everything, no one would take me seriously, and why am I running down a random side road by a pond?!  _

 

_ At least I’m not going to- _

 

“...are you alright?” Tatsumi asks as I somehow end up running straight into him. 

 

“Um… I’ve just been investigating a murder and need to go home, but yes, I’m fine.” I say, and the textile store website said that his first name was Kanji, so that’s probably correct. 

 

Before he can answer with shock or revulsion or horror, I grab his hand and begin to drag him towards my grandfather’s house. No one’s home, so I get go of his hand, run up a flight of stairs, grab a gun, and take his hand again. 

 

“This is going to make no sense, but there’s a world behind the television that the killer has access to.” I say, as I take his hand again and jump in through the screen. 

 

* * *

 

“How can you do this?! Why are you-” Kanji exclaims, as we land on a platform that’s another cross between a building and a police office, and there’s more blood. 

 

_ That’s actually a good thing to think about. Is there a way to filter out the suspect pool based on who can access this world? Did the people in 1947 who fell into their televisions share any common qualities?  _

 

_ Okay, of the ones that talked about what they did before the TV, all of them mentioned someone who set up a missing persons registry on the outskirts of town, and…. wait a minute….  _

 

“Do you know anything about the gas station near the Welcome To Inaba sign?” I ask, as I attempt to take blood samples, but the room’s slowing denaturing into a bathhouse. 

 

“They just randomly showed up in town last month, and you probably shouldn’t-” he answers, before a naked person walks into the room we’re in, which is now filled with fog. 

 

“Well, look what we have here. You’re already on a date with him? Clearly, he must really enjoy putting up with you, and your delusions of masculinity….” the naked person says, and I have no idea who he’s talking to. 

 

_ So, according to the people whose stories were recorded in 1947, almost everyone ran into these people, who proceeded to go crazy and try to kill them when they denied anything they said about them….  _

 

“I agree with you!” I exclaim, for I don’t know if it matters if you actually agree with them or not, but I don’t want Kanji to die just because I dragged him onto a crime scene…. 

 

“See? Even he agrees with me that you have no strength. You’re just a liar, you know that? Everything you’ve ever done in your life is to project the image of someone who isn’t weak and feminine, but you are exactly what you hate and you know that….” the naked person answers, and I shouldn’t have brought Kanji here nor be hearing this right now, for I barely know him…. 

 

_ Try to shoot the naked guy. See if that actually works….  _

 

I can’t see anything through this mass of fog, and I could end up accidentally hitting Kanji. I can just barely make out the outline of the naked person with all of this fog… 

 

“What gives you the right to say that shit about me?!” Kanji exclaims, and I would try to find him, but I can’t move any part of my body for some reason…. 

 

“Because I am you, you moron! What were you expecting, someone weak?” the naked guy asks, and he  _ can’t  _ deny anything the guy says, otherwise we’re both going to die in the middle of a fog-filled television world. 

 

“Why the hell would I accept you as a fucking part of me?!” he answers, as the room explodes with light, releasing my from my bonds as I start shooting at the mass of light. 

 

_ If I hit you, Kanji, I’m sorry…. I didn’t expect this to happen, for this didn’t happen with me….  _

 

“...how did you do that?!” he exclaims, as the fog clears to reveal what looks like a pentagram made of silver wires, and the naked guy’s lying on the floor. 

 

“I have no idea, but the only way for us to get out of here alive is to tell that naked guy that you agree with him.” I answer. 

 

_ You don’t have to mean it! They don’t know the difference between sincerity and lies, I think….  _

 

“Is that really the only way we can get out of here?!” he exclaims, as he whacks the guy on the floor with a chair that’s somehow materialized out of nowhere. 

 

“I don’t want you to die, so, yes, that’s the only way out of here that doesn’t involve me carrying your corpse, Kanji.” I answer. 

 

_ I really don’t want to turn myself in for your murder, okay? You don’t have to mean it, and I’m like you, in a way, for we’re both liars, according to them.  _

 

“...fine…. you’re me, even if I do want to hit you with a chair for the rest of my life.” he says, and there’s lighting and a skeleton surrounding us, but there’s also a television, which I drag him through, and we’ve escaped to the safety of my living room….

 

_ So… I’m going to tell him. It’s only fair.  _

 

“Kanji, can I confess something?” I ask, as we both collapse onto the sofa, but he’s staring at me. 

 

_ I’m very sorry for dragging you into my murder investigation, and it’s okay if you hate me for doing this to you. I don’t think you’re a bad person, and thanks for the doll.  _

 

He’s still staring at me, even when the TV’s blaring really loud music, and if he’s still traumatized, I might as well just tell him everything about who I am. It’s only fair that he learns about me after I accidentally witnessed all that stuff about him. 

 

“My name is Naoto Shirogane, and I’m a fifteen-year-old girl who crossdresses because she wants the police and investigators to take her seriously.” I say, and he’s still not responding to a single thing I’m saying. 

 

_ Maybe he’s sick? The fog did force a bunch of people in 1947 to be hospitalized.  _

 

“I’m really sorry for dragging you into this mess, and I’m going to call the ambulance right now.” I say, as I rush up to my room, for I still have to run blood tests and DNA tests and fingerprint matches. 

 

* * *

 

_ The arch fingerprints on both Mayumi Yamano and Saki Konishi match up to Tohru Adachi, who was an ex-employee of the Tokyo Municipal Police that was under investigation for sexually assaulting several teenage girls. The DNA also matches up to the one taken from Adachi during his investigation, and he has type A blood, which was found near Saki Konishi’s scene of death.  _

 

I’ve found a killer, but I need to make sure that he’s in Inaba and that he can access the television world. Kanji is still in the hospital, and I need to make sure that he’s not in fatal condition. I wrote him a note on the same doll and dropped it off this morning, but I don’t know if he’ll ever read it. 

 

_ If you never want to see me again, it’s okay. I understand.  _

 

“Are you alright?” the gas station attendant asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. 

 

“Who else have you talked to in the past month?” I ask, for if Adachi’s one of the answers, then that’ll answer everything about how he got access to the television and the world inside of it. 

 

“I came into significant contact with a man from the city last month, who kept fuming about how he’d gotten reassigned to the middle of nowhere due to a few slip-ups. He thought that there was nothing left in the world for him, and I gave him the power to change that.” they answer. 

 

“Was his name Tohru Adachi?” I ask. 

 

“I guess it was. I’m waiting for someone to meet me, so please stop moping around here.” they answer, as I walk away to the hospital. 

 

_ I’ve found a murderer. Or, I’ve gotten close to finding one, and I’m going to the police, but first I need to see Kanji again and make sure that he’s okay.  _

 

* * *

 

“I thought you’d never want to see me again.” Kanji says as I take a seat next to his hospital bed. 

 

“I thought the same thing. I’m really sorry for doing that to you.” I respond. 

 

_ I’m going to turn in a murderer today. Wish me luck, please?  _

 

“You saved my life and investigate murders and you’re….” he begins, before staring at my face and slowly turning red. 

 

“I told you yesterday that I’m actually a fifteen-year-old girl named Naoto Shirogane who dresses up as a man because she wants people to take her seriously as a detective. It’s just pure luck that I didn’t get a naked version of myself talking about all of my secrets, and you did.” I answer, for I don’t know if he remembers anything I told him after we got out of the television. 

 

“...really cute, even if you are a-wait, what?!” he continues. 

 

_ Yes, I am a girl the same age as you, Kanji. I hope this doesn’t shock you too much.  _

 

“I’m going to be presenting some evidence to the police today, and I just want to make sure that you’re healthy. I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I answer, for all of the evidence is with me, and I just need it to be taken seriously. 

 

He doesn’t say anything, but he’s smiling as he passes back the doll of me, and there’s another note attached to it. 

 

_ Good luck, Naoto. I’ll be out of the hospital tomorrow.  _

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I hope you like this treat! I saw your prompts and got interested in writing something for one...


End file.
